whole wheat flour

I'm looking forward to trying this pancake recipe, however, I have a quick question before trying it out. My husband's diabetic, so I'm always trying to switch out whole wheat flour for white flour in recipes (I also like to keep as much white flour out of my kids diet as possible). Do you think whole wheat flour will prevent the pancakes from being light and fluffy?

Re: Substituting w/ Whole Wheat Flour

If you regularly substitute whole wheat for white flour, I am sure you are already aware that things are more dense and even chewy when you use all whole wheat flour. Same things for these pancakes, without the white flour these pancakes will lack that airiness, that makes them "mile-high pancakes".

Here is another thread that talks about this as well. It's actually part of the discussion from the Wheat & Gluten Lesson. Cheers!

These are simply delicious!!

I make these every chance I get when I cook breakfast for the family. Its a big change from the runny pancake batter that come in boxes at the supermarket. They literally are pan "cakes"!! sometimes I have trouble getting that perfect golden brown colour though?

Great with ww flour

I thought I'd write back about my experience in substituting whole wheat flour in this recipe. I did 2 different versions: 1 with 1/2 white 1/2 ww flour, and the other with straight ww flour. I actually didn't notice too much of a difference between the 2 versions and they both turned out great and still turned out "mile high". It must be all the baking powder that keeps them nice and fluffy. They weren't too dense or chewy. I gave my kids the 100% ww version and they gobbeled them up. I'm thinking about grinding up some other grains. such as oats and incorporating them into the recipe. As a side note, I also made the laminated pasta with whole wheat flour and it turned it great. I think I just had to boil the noodles for a minute or 2 longer.

Buttermilk?

Buttermilk substitution

Hi Carlos,

Not sure what the experts at Rouxbe would say, but when I don't have buttermilk on hand, I make my own "sour milk" by adding about 1 tsp of vinegar to every 1 cup of regular milk. You have to let it sit for about 10 minutes before you add it to the recipe. You'll know it's ready when the constistency changes. Sounds unappetizing, but the milk will be a bit "chunky". Hope that helps.

RE: Buttermilk Substitution

I usually need to add more vinegar or fresh lemon juice to get the mixture to thicken enough: 1 tablespoon vinegar or fresh lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let it sit until it thickens.

I'm sure the substitution would work well for this recipe. I haven't had a lot of success though when using the substitution in the Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Pancakes. It just never seemed to get thick enough so I stick to the real thing for that particular recipe. Hope this helps!

RE: Buttermilk Substitution

Woow amazing! I have just done the recipe, those were delicious. Although I thing more thinken was required from buttermilk substitution to get a better batter, so sorry but I will have to try again... and again.. thank you both!

Using dry flour, baking soda vs powder, buttermilk substitutions

Carlos, do you have yogurt where you are? I used 1 cup yogurt mixed with 1 cup milk, this time to replace the 2 cups buttermilk.

I always used sour milk (milk plus vinegar or lemon juice) in the past to replace buttermilk in recipes. Sour milk is thinner than buttermilk, so use a bit less.

Both buttermilk and yogurt are cultured milk products, but sour milk is not, so sour milk will not provide as much rise. Cultured milk works a bit like a sourdough starter.

This is the first time I felt like I could afford to "waste" yogurt in pancakes. In the past I only cooked frugally and nutritionally, and never for the pure enjoyment or to learn. I'm glad I did these "right" as they do taste yeastier than sour milk or regular milk pancakes.

Richard did you add baking soda or baking powder. Baking soda is more potent than baking powder and has to be neutralized by the correct amount of acid. Baking powder is complete in itself, and more of it is used, and it is usually double acting, meaning it rises a second time when heated, not just when liquid is added. 1 tablespoon of baking soda is a huge amount. 1 tablespoon baking powder is just right.

I haven't baked anything in over 6 months and have kept my flour in the refrigerator where it has dried out, so my batter came out too thick. I stirred a little more milk into the batter to try and thin it, but it wasn't enough and I didn't want to try stirring in more, because I was afraid of overworking the batter.

I've never had such a tender pancake when the batter was so thick. I think it's because of the extra rise from the yogurt.

When flour is dry, do I use less flour, do I increase the liquid, or do both?

beating egg whites?

I'm just comparing this recipe to one I have for buttermilk pancakes. Mine calls for separating out the egg whites, beating them, then folding them in at the end before frying. Is this achieving the same effect as your large amount of baking powder? If so I might prefer your simpler method.

I also tend to use Rice-bran oil instead of vegetable oils. Would that be ok here? I think I'll try this recipe tomorrow for breakfast!

RE: Beating Egg Whites

Whipped egg whites can be used to leaven, so, yes, it is relatively the same thing. If you were to substitute the whipped egg whites in your recipe with baking powder, I don't know how they will turn out - you'll just have to try it out for yourself (if this is indeed what you're asking). I am not familiar with rice-bran oil, but if you use it for cooking and it is neutral in flavor, it should be fine for pancakes. Cheers!

ok gang

pro tip, do NOT put rice-bran oil in these! :-) I made a few different batches, all single serving size, and I think butter works best. Also I found that there's is no need to butter the pan, if its non-stick and cleaned properly the pancakes come out nice and golden. I noticed that my pan was hovering around 325f ish but your mileage may vary.

I tried these topped with a spiced ricotta as follows:
400g ricotta
60ml Canadian maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
blend in a processor until smooth
then dollop on top of the pancakes.

As a nice side to all this I had maple syrup pears, as follows:
250ml Canadian maple syrup
orange and lemon rind, and the juice from said orange and lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe williams pears, peeled & quartered
combine in a pan and simmer for 12min until tender and glazed

This took a bit of effort (certainly not the lazy Sunday morning kind of pancake) but was simple AMAZING. If you need to impress a special someone with breakfast, this will do it. mmmmm....

Thick batter

Hi,
I made these pancakes exactly as the recipe describes, but the batter was extremely thick. When I went to 'ladle' it on to the griddle, it was more like having to scrape it off of the spoon and flatten it out!
They were DELICIOUS, but I'm thinking that maybe my buttermilk was thicker than usual? I used Island Farms buttermilk. Maybe I should just sour some milk instead? Or should I just add more than the 2 cups of buttermilk?
Suggestions would be appreciated!

Re: thick batter

Sounds like you may have just needed to add a touch more buttermilk. Next time make them as usual and if they are too thick add a tablespoon or so more buttermilk until you reach the desired consistency. The batter is supposed to be thick but not so thick that you have to scrape it off of ladle and flatten them. Cheer!

Re: Weight

two questions

There are two questions from two different people posted that i too wondered about, but i don't see the answers. One was the question about storing extra batter in the refrg, and the other was about getting the golden brown color when cooking the pancakes. Any suggestions??

RE: Storing Extra Batter and Golden Brown Pancakes

Ideally, once a batter has been mixed, it should be used. The batter begins to activate baking powder or baking soda, so letting it sit for long periods of time will decrease its leavening power. You can always try cooking the pancakes the next day to compare the results. If you know you won't eat the entire recipe, cut it in half and don't mix until you are ready to cook.

Sometimes, the first couple of pancakes tend to be lighter in color. Make sure your griddle has been preheated and well-oiled. Make a small tester pancake to test the temperature and you'll be good to go. Cheers.

Another substitution for buttermilk

An old trick I found out about, when you don't have buttermilk on hand is to use an equal amount of yogurt. Yogurt I tend to have on hand more often than buttermilk. Yogurt looks really thick, but it must thin out in the cooking, because I have never had any problem using this substitution. If it looks too thick for you, you can always add a touch of milk.

Family Tradition

My oldest daughter told me yesterday that these pancakes are our family tradition since I make them every Sunday for my girls. I hadn't thought about it that way but if that's how she feels then that's how a tradition is born I guess. All three girls want to help make them which can make it challenging at times.

I think we've pretty much mastered the recipe and we alter it weekly depending what's in season. Right now we are making lots of blueberry pancakes and I never have buttermilk so I just add a shot of lemon juice. I use a non stick electric dutch oven and I never oil it. We always half the recipe and we've never had a bad batch. I'm not sure if it's a tradition just yet but these are the best pancakes I've ever had.

how to add the melted butter?

In the comments back on August 13, 2008 the discussion was about replacing the oil in the batter with butter for added flavor. I tried this by melting the butter in the microwave and then stirring it into the other liquid. However it the butter seemed to solidify and form lumps since the liquid is below the melting temperature of the butter. Is there a way to avoid this?

RE: How to Add Melted Butter

The other ingredients would have to be a similar temperature to avoid this. The important thing is that the pancakes turned out.

I have personally made these pancakes hundred of times and I have never used butter to make the batter...but that doesn't mean I do not lather them with butter after they are cooked :-) Hope this helps. Cheers!

High Altitude

I know these are called Mile high pancakes but my questions basically applies to all recipes with flour, baking powder or soda. I do live in the Mile High City (Denver, CO). Do any of your recipes make notes if there is a change for high altitude?

I know most pre-made batters usually require some extra flour living here. I want to try these but want to make sure I get it right.

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